Corfu Lasagna

Corfu Lasagna - a perfect Wacky Thursday meal courtesy of Replacement Chef.

A base of dandelions and lemon chunks, topped with tortellini with tomato sauce, covered with slices of cheese and drizzled with sour cream and herbs.

Thank you Replacement Chef.

 

Raga

I ask a friend who is of an Indian origin; "where can I find a really good Indian restaurant?".

"Raga", she says. 

She goes on to tell me that her parents would only go there when they go out for Indian and sometimes cater for big events from Raga.

Off to Raga I go. 

It is definitely a high class restaurant with old fashioned respectful service that I have not experienced in Vancouver in a long time.

Of course I had to try the mango lassi. It was a really good one made with natural ingredients.

In fact, Raga uses a lot of mangoes and other fruit, sprinkled over the savoury dishes.

The onion bhaji was definitely exceptional.

The rest of the dishes were very good too. You can taste the sophistication of spicing and slow cooking in everything I tried.

But if you want to experience all this quality food and service, there is a price to pay. Raga is not cheap.

 Raga

1177 West Broadway

Vancouver, BC

www.raga-restaurant.com

 

The Gift of Sushi

The gift of Sushi came to somerville kitchen from Sushi Nanaimo.

There was food for 8; we were just four.

There were rolls, sushi, goyoza, noodles.

There were sauce after sauce.

Food was your typical sushi, nothing more, nothing less.

But being a gift from a special someone made the evening fun, and all left with stuffed tummies and lots of leftovers.

Colourful sushi is my best descriptor.

Sushi Nanaimo

350 Nanaimo Street

Vancouver, BC

604-876-9200

Kelowna Pizzeria

Is this a space ship? 

It may as well be. Antico Pizza Napoletana is a new Kelowna discovery.

I couldn't find any listings of it on Zomato. There is no website associated with it anywhere that it may as well be in space.

But it is real and it is pretty good.

A nice clean open space; with the owner (or someone important to the place) focusing on making the pizzas and playing hip vinyls.

 

Being a major Margherita pizza fan, and seeing their Margherita with a different kind of cheese, I went for that.

Fresh, good crust, excellent value for the money.

The buffalo mozzarella cheese may have been over the top, but enjoyed the decadence.

Almost four great discoveries in Kelowna this summer, cannot wait to try the next new kid in town.

Antico Pizza Napoletana

347 Bernard Avenue

Kelowna, BC

www.anticopizza.ca

An Entry To The Week

These words set the stage for a calm start of the week.

The calmness of the day was reflected in the simplicity of the meal.

Humus, Greek Salad and frozen spinach pies.

Wishing all an early sleep and a calm happy week.

Discover Argo

Argo Café has been hiding on Ontario street until we started discovering the neighbourhood, thanks to the Olympics.

A cash only diner owned and ran by famous chefs that make delicious fresh food at half the prices restaurants they worked at prior would have charged.

Excellent service, tasty fresh food, decadent home made desserts and five flavours of milkshakes.

They were so gracious to create a combo vanilla mocha milkshake. Thank you. 

This may look like a cheap diner canned soup. But it is not. It is home made with perfect mix of herbs rather than lots of salt to bring out the taste.

As for this platter, it is a Chicken Chili Con Queso on Rice with Avocado. The name looked interesting on the board and it was.

Dessert offers vary by day and today I was lucky to try the home made Tiramisu, presented in a cup of layers of decadence.

Argo Café

1836 Ontario Street

Vancouver, BC

www.argocafe.ca

 

A Fresh Look at Rumour

 My regular readers are familiar with my fascination with Regina Airport's Rumour (click HERE for more on Rumour).

But for those who have not read about Rumour, this is a 'store' at the Regina airport that is independently owned by a woman that represents everything that is caring, charming and down-to-earth about Saskatchewan.

The owner also has a keen eye for art. She curates and sells arts, crafts and other items all by Saskatchewan artists and craft makers.

I adore Rumour and look forward to my visits with the lovely owner. But it is very difficult to express in words how happy am I for her move to a bigger, brighter and more prominent location within the airport. 

Congratulations on this move and best of luck. And my readers who live in or pass through Regina, this is a must-visit place. 

Here's the address and below are some tantalizing preview of some of what you may find at Rumour.

Rumour Handcraft Inc.

Regina Airport, Arrival Levels next to luggage pick up

Regina, SK

 

rumour@sasktel.net

Wacky Edible Grout

Problem to solve: How to decide what colour grout to use?
Solution: Rather than buy different grout samples, use your kitchen cupboards.

Sprinkle the tile samples with a kitchen cupboard ingredient, clean it up and you get a clear sense of how it will look with that grout colour. Let's start with flour for white grout.

Too boring, how about an orange colour. Here's the turmeric.

Red can be striking. Let's try it with Paprika and find out.

Wonder how a black may look with all the mini black tiles. Dark Brazilian ground coffee.

Final choice? Surprise, but you can let me know what colour combination you like most.

 

Best Hearts

If I mention artichoke hearts in Canada, most of you will think of the marinated ones you buy in jars or the small canned hearts.

But in Lebanon (and other parts of the Middle East) artichoke hearts are big, hearty and make lovely meals.

You can buy them frozen at most of the Lebanese or Iranian stores in the city. But you may not know what to do with them.

So read along for some ideas and give it a try - a perfect base for quick, healthy, tasty and unique meal ideas.

One way of cooking them is to lay the hearts in a cooking platter. Fill them with pre-cooked ground beef, top with fried pine nuts and sprinkle with lemon and water sauce. Bake for about 30 minutes in a 350 oven and serve over rice.

Another approach is to fill them with cooked vegetables or cooked chicken, cover them with béchamel sauce, sprinkle with grated gruyere cheese and bake the same way.

And there is no law to say you cannot do a bit of each for the same meal. Enjoy.